Thursday, September 30, 2010

We can only get a step change improvement if we change the business model, but this is also a situation in which prior experience may become obsolete. Most people avoid this, so it is the weaker competitors which welcome change more as they have nothing to lose. Market leaders have to force themselves to create change and innovation, whether through technology, business model, distribution channel or regulation.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

While this was at the top of the news for so long, the news cycle has moved on. As a result, the good news, that the well has been permanently plugged, is barely on the news at all. This means that the story, for most people, is incomplete. I suspect that this is the case with so many others, such as the Chilean earthquake, the Australian elections (in America at least), or the Asian tsunami. How many more things do we know incomplete facts about?

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

The world is changing at an accelerating pace. So companies have to change at an accelerating pace. This is an enormous challenge for executives, who are already dealing with the increasing and 24 hour demands on their time. Some of this is best achieved by better processes, but some has to be done via a culture which rewards change and encourages people to constantly improve, not just incrementally, but also step changes.

This tends to be easier for organizations which do not have a vested interest in the way in which things have always been done, but some have demonstrated the ability to re-invent themselves. Apple may be the shining example of how to do this, having changed technology, business model and organization several times.

Friday, September 03, 2010

While the fact that the US and UK are two nations separated by a common language is widely quoted, the fact that there are many cultural experiences which are not shared is rarely mentioned. Going back a few hundred years, both nations share Shakespeare, John Stuart Mill, and Magna Carta. However, it is the more recent experiences which diverge, even now with the Internet as the great leveler. To Americans, the stories of Derek Bentley and Ruth Ellis, which contributed to the end of capital punishment in the UK (itself a great difference) are unknown. In the parallel universe which is Britain Joseph Swan (vs. Thomas Edison) invented the electric lightbulb (patented it a year before Edison and overturned Edison's US patents in US courts). In the UK, John Logie Baird invented TV, not Philo Farnsworth. Marie Stopes led the charge for birth control, not Margaret Sanger, Emily Pankhurst led the fight for women's suffrage. Children grew up watching Bill and Ben the flowerpot men and Blue Peter, and never knew who Beaver was, or anything about the Honeymooners. Britons drove Triumph cars, and Morris Minors, instead of Buicks and Ramblers. Amy Johnson was the woman who pioneered flying, not Amelia Earhart. They drank Corona, Vimto and Tizer instead of RC Cola and Shasta. They poured Heinz Salad Cream on salads, not Kraft salad dressings, drank Heinz soups, ate Mr. Kipling cakes, put Branston pickle on cheese sandwiches, laughed at Morecombe and Wise or Spike Milligan. They listened to the Shipping Forecast on the radio, and watched the Queens speech on TV. Americans watched the Superbowl for their shared experience, gathered together for Thanksgiving dinner, and asked strangers who they thought would win the World Series. Americans grew up with the Sears catalog and shopped at Target, Walgreens, and A&P, while Britons bought their essentials at Marks & Spencers, Boots the Chemists, W. H. Smiths, and the Coop.Perhaps the Internet will change much of this, but even now, only Britons can experience the BBC's iPlayer, while only Americans can buy a newspaper from a machine.

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About Me

Richard has grown multiple businesses, some from scratch, some already establishes, to much bigger profit and market value.

Richard has over
thirty years in leading Fortune 500 and much smaller companies to
success as a member of top management in Fortune 500 companies and adviser to
them as consultant and Board member.

Prior to
founding Max Brand Equity, Richard started his career in marketing at Procter
& Gamble, later becoming a Division Head at Mars, Inc, CMO at US West and BMC
Software as well as President of Reliant Energy. He was also a partner in two
respected consulting firms, where he advised top management of Global 2000
companies. He has been on the Board of eight highly successful companies,
including four start-ups.

Richard has
focused on initiating and leading change to achieve successful results in
global organizations in changing markets. From Consumer Packaged goods to
communications and high-tech he has created new paradigms which have changed
the market structure and built substantial revenue and profit growth.

Most recently,
Richard created the consumer “broadband” market while at US West/Comcast, the
most successful retail energy business at Reliant Energy, new “dialog-based” CRM approaches at several companies as well as BMC software, as well as pioneering in
multi-channel and direct to the consumer marketing. He grew market value of
three public corporations by several-fold in periods of around two years each.
The firm focuses on excellence in execution - Big Idea to Successful Implementation
in Seven Steps

Richard has
focused on initiating and leading change to achieve successful results in
global organizations in changing markets. From Consumer Packaged goods to
communications and high-tech he has created new paradigms which have changed
the market structure and built substantial revenue and profit growth.

Richard has
grown and led several large global organizations. Much of the success of the
organizations was built on his definition of tasks and responsibilities as well
as structure and communications. He has lived and worked in ten countries and
four continents, achieving great success in multiple markets.

He has regularly
achieved success for many companies, in multiple categories, both as a manager
and as a consultant. He is an acknowledged expert, having been a published
author and public speaker over many years, and is sought out as an interviewee
in many areas.

Richard
graduated from the University of Cambridge with a
Bachelors degree in Chemistry, Physics, and Math. He went on to earn a Masters from Cambridge
in Chemical Engineering.